Language
by Hannah-Kiwii
Summary: Mori doesn’t talk in Japanese. He doesn’t talk in French, English, Italian or Chinese. In fact, Mori tends not to talk at all…at least not with words anyway. MorixHaru


**Summary:** Mori doesn't talk in Japanese. He doesn't talk in French, English, Italian or Chinese. In fact, Mori tends not to talk at all…at least not with words anyway. MorixHaru

**Authors Note: **This story probably has the strangest inspiration behind it of all I have written so far. Whilst I was reading an Ouran fanfiction my little sister walked up to me, stood there, and glared. A minor row consequently ensued about how I could not understand her if she just looked at me: for me to understand her meaning she needed to speak. That is the idea behind this, which has taken a long time to put together. Therefore, this story is dedicated to my wonderful sister Rachel, who is an enormous Hunny fan.

Thank you to Robyn for BETA reading and being a constant encouragement.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Ouran High School Host Club or any elements, characters or situations taken from the manga or anime. This is a fan work and no money is being made.

**Language**

Mori didn't tend to talk in Japanese. He didn't talk in French, English, Italian or Chinese. In fact, Mori tended not to talk at all…at least not with words anyway.

Mori, unlike other people, talked with his eyes.

It is said that the eyes are windows to the soul, but that wasn't always true in the Host Club. Tamaki's eyes were never dry of emotion, always brimming over. They showed what Tamaki wanted them to show. Love, hurt, or affection. It was difficult to tell when he was playing and when he was serious. His eyes couldn't tell you. It made others wonder if he knew the difference himself.

The twins didn't need to show their emotions, they didn't need to bear their souls. They only needed each other, and because they always thought and felt the same, they didn't need to show each other what was going on inside. They'd either never learned to show their emotions, or learned to hide it very well. It didn't matter, the result was the same. Their eyes only ever showed an evil glint when they were up to mischief.

Hunny was, in ways, the scariest. Was he sweet, or was he a monster? No one but Mori knew, and as he never spoke, no one ever would. His mood, his actions, his eyes, could change in a heartbeat. There seemed to be no range in Hunny's emotions. He was either sweet and innocent or ugly and evil. Either way, you didn't mess with him, be it for fear of hurting him, or hurting yourself.

Kyoya was the coldest of all. His eyes drank in warmth, cold, whatever emotions and expressions were present, but never let anything out, like he were hungry for the feelings that his own heart didn't have. He watched and took note of everything that happened. He surrounded himself with people full of life. It was almost as if he were trying to make up for the emotion his eyes didn't hold.

But Takashi Morinozuka…well, Mori was different. It must be necessary to find an alternative way of communicating, when one does not talk, and Mori had mastered it. Even when his face was expressionless, his eyes showed everything. When he was angry he glared. When he was concerned his eyes were full of compassion. His eyes could show hurt, disapproval, any emotion he might need to express. The trick was learning to read them.

Hunny could read Takashi's eyes, for he had grown up with him. Best friends, cousins, constant companions, it was an impossible idea that they wouldn't understand one another.

Kyoya must have been able to read him. Kyoya could read anyone. His calculated gaze, his eyes that sucked in all the surroundings, they could read anything, anyone. Kyoya knew everything, although with some things it was debatable whether he truly understood it.

Tamaki thought he understood everyone in the Host Club, and had assigned each of them a position in his 'family'. Although each member fitted that role to some degree of accuracy, Tamaki was an idiot, and it was uncertain whether he actually understood anything.

And the twins…they didn't care. As long as they had each other (and their little plaything in case they got bored) they didn't need anyone.

Now, what about that said plaything? We haven't mentioned her yet.

Haruhi was newer to the group. She couldn't read them all yet. There was a barrier between her and them that she couldn't cross. She had noticed that Mori seemed more interested in her than he was in any of the other hosts. He would often glance at her, and always come to her rescue. He protected her as fiercely as he did Hunny, maybe even more, knowing she was more vulnerable than the little martial arts champion. True, all the hosts took a special interest in her. Kyoya spent a lot of time attempting to control her. He held the key to her future, since she had broken that vase, and he used that to his advantage. Tamaki would do anything to be by her side, although he rarely succeeded, as the twins never seemed to leave her alone. Hunny too paid her attention, wanting her to eat cake and play with his precious Bun-Bun.

It was different from Mori though. He didn't _do_ anything. He just watched.

And it was starting to bug her.

All these thoughts had been swirling round in Haruhi's head for some time, when Kyoya came up with a new idea to raise profits. There would be a host club event, where the customers could be entertained by several hosts at once. This wasn't unusual, as the hosts often worked in groups (Hunny and Mori; Hikaru and Kaoru). What was different was who they would be working with.

Kyoya thought that pairing them differently would allow the girls to see a different side to them. Tamaki, who normally worked alone, had no objections, and so the plan went ahead.

"After all," the president spouted, "a father should teach his children about his work."

He was devastated when Kyoya grouped him with Kaoru. Kyoya simply said he hadn't specified which 'child'. Tamaki couldn't argue with that, so he decided to sulk for a while instead.

Kyoya had chosen three groups. Tamaki would work with Kaoru and Hunny, Hikaru would work with himself and Haruhi would work with Mori.

Haruhi was relieved. It would seem that she had managed to get the only partner who wasn't completely insane. Well, he might be, but at least if he was, he kept quiet about it.

She knew the event was bound to cause trouble, but she decided that if she kept her head down and got on with her job, they'd hopefully get through without too much incident and Kyoya would be happy with the profit made.

* * *

The day of the event dawned, and the club room had been divided into three areas by Chinese screens, so that each group could have their own space in which to entertain the customers.

The majority of customers began to designate Tamaki's group. Tamaki being the most popular host by far this wasn't really a surprise and most of Hunny and Mori's normal designators were joining that group as well, as most of them preferred Hunny to Takashi. The lure of spending time with Kyoya, who normally did not take many customers of his own, pulled several girls to that group, and it became clear that most twin fans were drawn to this group too, probably to see how one of the constant duo would act alone in the presence of such a dark character.

Haruhi and Mori's group was much smaller. It consisted of Haruhi's regulars and a couple of Mori fans, but not many more.

* * *

After only twenty minutes Tamaki sat in his corner, sulking. The number of girls gathered around him, trying to cheer him up was dwindling fast, as little Hunny drew the crowds towards himself, simply talking about this and that and shovelling cake into his little mouth when normal people would have stopped talking to breathe.

This only made the Host Club president more upset, so he drew his legs closer, jutted his bottom lip out further and sulked with all his might.

No one paid any attention.

Kaoru was fairly pleased with his work…only twenty minutes and he'd reduced his "father" to a quivering wreck. He wished his twin were there to see it, because nothing was funny without someone to share your joke with.

"Would you like some tea, Kaoru-kun?" one of the girls from Class 1B asked. She smiled prettily at him.

"I suppose so," he said with a sigh, not really looking at her.

She tilted her head, observing him. "You miss Hikaru-kun, don't you?"

He sighed again. "Yes," he replied, forcing a weak smile, "but I'll see him again in only an hour. Why don't we get some tea?"

She blushed and nodded, moving back towards the group of girls sat at one of the two tables in their section of the room.

_Easy _he thought_ Kyoya will give us a week off, not a day, if I continue like this._

Hunny was blissfully unaware that anything was happening. He continued talking and eating cake as always.

* * *

Things were decidedly less peaceful in Kyoya's group.

"Hikaru," Kyoya hissed, deliberately loud enough for the young ladies to overhear, "will you stop acting like a sensitive idiot and do your job?"

"When we signed up for this club," Hikaru growled back, "we were told it was about being ourselves in front of other people. We could be who we truly were. For you, this club is about money! You are destroying our identity to make money!"

Kyoya decided to ignore this comment, turning back to the girls watching them closely, he gave them a dazzling smile, and offered them tea. "We can talk about this after club time is over," he shot at Hikaru.

"We can talk about it now," Hikaru yelled, knocking the tea pot from Kyoya's hands. The girls gasped, watching with rapture.

"Kaoru and I work together. We work together or we don't work at all. This is our identity you're trying to break apart. This is who we are!"

"You're yourself before you are a twin," Kyoya muttered under his breath.

"What did you say?"

"I said you're yourself before you're a twin!" Kyoya's voice was angry now. "You're you, and he's him. You're completely different. I bet Kaoru's sadly courting the young ladies on the other side of this screen. I bet he's all quiet because he hasn't got his brother. You're being aggressive!"

"Yes I'm me, and yes he's him," Hikaru retorted, but in a slightly calmer voice, "but without him I'm not me and without me he's not him. Being me and being a twin aren't separate. I am a twin, and it's part of my identity." He looked shocked, staring at Kyoya. "I did not just say that."

"You did."

"We can talk after club," Hikaru said, exhausted, slipping back into his seat (for both boys had stood during their shouting match).

"We can talk now," Kyoya responded, almost gently, sitting down beside him.

"Why would you want to talk?" Hikaru spat in disgust. "You only have room in your heart for money."

Very deliberately Kyoya reached out and placed his hand on Hikaru's cheek, he turned the boy's head so they were looking directly at each other. "I could make room in my heart for you."

One of the girls fainted.

* * *

It was all dealt with very professionally.

The girls were quickly and carefully moved from the room, and after the unwell girl had come round, she was escorted by her friends to the closest nurse's office.

"What happened?" Tamaki asked.

"This," Kyoya stated evenly, throwing a series of pages labelled 'script' to the French boy.

"Your acting isn't bad, Hikaru. I think we'll make a tidy profit from that scheme," Kyoya continued.

Tamaki interrupted, "Mother! He's your son! This is…this is incest!"

"It's called acting, baka," Kaoru replied. "It's not like my brother would let anyone but me near him if we weren't being well paid, is it? Speaking of which," he turned to Kyoya, "we want three days off."

"We agreed on one."

"Well we're saying three," Hikaru demanded. "You actually touched my face. It will take a day for me to feel clean again."

"You can have two," Kyoya conceded, closing his note book with a snap. "Just don't bother me for the next two days." He turned to address the Host Club as a whole. "I have to attend a social gathering with my family's company tonight. I trust that you will be able to tidy this room without too much trouble?" His last words were accompanied with a warning glance at the twins and then a long look at Tamaki, who was once again hunched up in a corner. It was almost of if Kyoya were concerned for his friend. "Tamaki, I'm going now," he called purposefully across the room. He obviously took a wave of the hand and a sniff from Tamaki's direction as permission to go, and he left the room without another word.

"Well, we're going," the twins announced, grabbing their bags.

Haruhi placed her hands on her hips. "This whole mess is yours, Hikaru." She pointed to the broken teapot and spilt tea all over the floor. "You can clean it up!"

"But we have the next two days off, remember," the twins chorused, before following Kyoya from the room. Their laughter could be heard all down the corridor.

Haruhi decided that trying to get Tamaki to help would do more harm than good, so she didn't even try.

After only a little while, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"What is it, senpai?" she asked.

"I need to go," Tamaki said, nervously glancing at his watch. "Dad's coming to see me tonight, so I really need to go."

"Don't worry Tamaki-senpai," she assured him, highly relieved that she wouldn't have to deal with her sulking senpai any longer.

"Mori will help you clean up. He has to wait for Hunny to do a lesson at the karate club."

"Bye-bye Haru-chan," Hunny called across the room.

It was deadly silent once the two had gone.

The two remaining hosts worked in silence, and Haruhi had to admit any of the other hosts would have taken double the time they did to clean the room. It was nice to work with someone so quiet and co-operative, but he was really starting to annoy her.

All he had done all afternoon was stare at her.

She felt his eyes on her again as she tidied away the crockery on one table. She had had enough.

"Mori-senpai," she kept her voice as calm as possible, "will you please stop watching me, it's creepy."

If she had been watching his eyes, instead of the floor, she would have seen that Mori's eyes looked incredibly hurt. They flashed with pain, and he nodded resignedly, before returning to moving the furniture into the correct place.

* * *

"Thanks for your help, senpai, I couldn't have done that without you," Haruhi told him while locking the door to the third music room. "We did well today. We make a good team, you and I."

He was staring at her again, with such intensity it nearly hurt. It was almost as though he were trying to pierce into her soul with his eyes: like he was trying to tell her something without words.

"Mori-senpai," she whispered into the silent corridor, "you're watching me again." She waited for him to respond.

He opened his mouth as though to speak, but changed his mind and closed it again. He opened it again, but when the words didn't come it once again fell shut. He repeated this bizarre sequence several times and Haruhi began to grow inpatient.

She was just preparing to turn around and leave, when he reached out a hand and patted her gently on the head.

"Good night, Haruhi," he droned in his deep voice. He turned and walked down the corridor. Haruhi raised her hand to her head, where Takashi's hand had touched her. What had that been about? She couldn't work it out.

She made her way towards the exit of the school. She was in no desperate hurry, but wasn't slow, either. It was one of those steady, thoughtful walks, when one seems to have a destination, but no purpose in getting there.

She paused briefly at the gates to the school, seeing that she wasn't the only person present. A figure about a head shorter than herself was leaning against the gate that marked the entrance to the high school complex.

"Konnichi wa, Haruhi-chan," called the figure, and she thought she recognized the voice. She saw his face and her heart jumped when she recognised it…but he was too short to be the person occupying her thoughts right now.

"Ah, Satoshi-kun, konnichi wa," she greeted nervously.

"I'm waiting for Taka," Satoshi offered by way of conversation. "Chika isn't in school today, so I'm going home with onii-sama and Mitsukuni. I'm just waiting for them to finish at the karate club. Have you seen Taka, they should be finished by now?"

Haruhi was taken aback by Satoshi's openness. Mori would never say so much. The similarities between the two brothers ended at their looks and caring nature; Satoshi and Mori really weren't very much alike at all.

"Yes, I saw Mori-senpai just now. He's going to collect Hunny-senpai from the karate club right now."

"Oh, that's fine then. Goodbye Haruhi-chan…oh, Haruhi!" he called after her as she turned to walk out of the school grounds. He seemed to have decided on the spur of the moment to tell her something. "Has Taka…has he said anything to you recently?"

"What do you mean?" Haruhi was completely puzzled. Mori didn't really talk at all.

"Has he said anything to you about…well, about you?"

Haruhi just gave him a blank look, clearly not understanding.

Satoshi pondered for a while before deciding to answer her puzzled expression. "He talks about you a lot at home," he explained cautiously.

It was an odd concept to come to terms with; Mori, talking. It was even more unusual that he would use the precious few words he did speak to talk about her; and often, apparently.

Satoshi obviously read the disbelieving look on her face correctly. "Taka's very quiet at school, but he's a little more open at home," he explained. "He really cares about you Haruhi-chan."

That much was obvious, really. Mori would always rush in to help if she called for him, sometimes when she didn't, but it sounded odd when Satoshi said it like that. He made the caring seem more than platonic, which it couldn't be. Mori just didn't…did he? It was Tamaki's job to make overly bold statements, and the twins' job to harass her, and Kyoya's job to watch her carefully; but Mori?

Satoshi was watching her with careful eyes, waiting for a response. His face was cautious, his brow wrinkled slightly. He resembled his brother even more with such a serious expression on his face.

"What do you mean by care, Satoshi-kun?" was Haruhi's deliberated reply.

Satoshi pondered her for a moment before finally answering, "Well, I think onii-sama might be in love with you, Haruhi-chan."

Satoshi was wrong. He had to be wrong. Mori had never shown any signs of loving her. But when all was said and done Mori just didn't express things in words. Could he care for her, care for her as more than a friend? Her thoughts dwelled on what had happened only moments before outside of the club room and her hand came up once more to touch her head where he had. It didn't take long to come to the conclusion: yes, yes he could. It was more than possible.

Satoshi looked away from her face sharply, turning to look back towards the school. Haruhi followed his gaze and saw a familiar site: Takashi was walking towards them; Hunny perched happily on his shoulders, waving to them.

Mori's eyes sought her, watched her. She wondered that with the ease, the speed and unabashed nature with which he did this, whether Taskashi did this often: did she only notice now because she was watching.

Their eyes locked, and Haruhi felt her face flush, something that had been a rare occurrence until she had joined the Host Club. Takashi's eyes softened on seeing her. She watched, fascinated. How could she not have noticed before what his eyes screamed? It was so obvious when you looked for it. Mori's eyes silently shouted his love for her.

Haruhi smiled at him warmly, and the hesitant smile that she received in return made her heart sing.

Mori didn't tend to talk in Japanese. He didn't talk in French, English, Italian or Chinese. In fact, Mori tended not to talk at all…at least not with words anyway.

He talked in a language that has no name, that can't be written down in any book. You learn this language by watching, listening, experiencing…it's a language you learn by spending time with one who is fluent.

Takashi Morinozuka was fluent in this language

Haruhi Fujioka was always willing to learn.

**Authors Notes: **This is only my second Ouran fic, and it's very different to my first one…I'm more dubious about this one, I'm not sure I've been very successful in it.

I'd love any reviews, no matter what they say.


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